Forget about the image of the modern vinyl purchaser as a twenty-something hipster who shares all of their latest purchases with their thousands of Instagram followers. Your average vinyl fanatic is in fact the opposite.
As NME reports, a new study conducted by YouGov claims the majority of vinyl buyers are lonely, middle-aged introverts and it’s in fact young people who are least likely to go out and purchase the revived physical format.
YouGov claim the majority of vinyl buyers are aged between 45 and 54. 66 percent of these wax fans claimed they couldn’t get through the day without listening to music and 59 percent believe downloading music illegally is wrong.
Socially, 56 percent of them prefer to “keep their feelings to themselves” and 69 percent said they enjoy being alone. 68 percent of those surveyed said they enjoy seeing live gigs and are 21 percent more likely to spend money to support their favourite bands.
Of course, one must note that this is all in the UK, where the weather is crap and people might be miserable and lonely to begin with. The YouGov study also contradicts the findings of a previous study conducted by US organisation MusicWatch.
As The Vinyl Factory reports, according to MusicWatch figures, half of vinyl record buyers are under 25, with the youth demographic leading the charge in the revival of the format, even though most of them don’t actually end up listening to the albums.
